For the third time now, I will not be attending the official opening of the Senedd by the English monarch which is due to take place on Tuesday.
I am a republican. I am a Welsh republican, but as a socialist I support the calls of republicans in other parts of the UK for the abolition of the 'British' monarchy.
Writing shortly after the coronation of the present monarch, DJ Davies wrote:
"We should bear in mind that the Queen is not a symbol as is often claimed, but the personification and incarnation of the English state, its history, its tradition, even its religion...Note how the Queen is surrounded by military pomp, how she is represented as the owner of the armed forces and how she is required to inspect them on all occasions of national or imperial importance."
DJ goes on to argue for a Welsh monarchy - his 1953 article is entitled 'Wales must have a king'. This is where DJ Davies and I part company.
In the modern Wales people should not be subjects, we should be citizens. The monarchy represents a hereditary class system which perpetuates inequality. The royals are an unaccountable, privileged elite allowed and encouraged by government to expand its wealth through the patronage of the civil list, the honours system and the land assets their ancestors pillaged from common people. The income they can expect to make from the Crown Estates land in Wales in future years is money that could be well used by the cash-strapped Welsh government.
Unlike all other spenders of taxpayers money, the royals are under no obligation to hand their accounts over for scrutiny to the National Audit Office and are they are exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.
Deference and sycophancy are expected (what is that bowing all about?) and happily given by most media outlets, while a huge numbers of people are employed in a PR team to promote the 'brand'. After quite a few years of limited success, they seem to have achieved quite a turn around in more recent times.
We like to think we live in a meritocracy. We don't. If we did, all children would be able to aspire to be head of state. Under a monarchal system, they can't. You can only be born into the monarchy. It's random. The democratic argument in favour of republicanism is best summed up by Imran Khan, Human Rights lawyer on the Republic website who says:
"One of the notions of a democracy is that you elect those in power and you can remove them if they abuse it. Fundamentally, it's about accountability."
Since I want her gone, I'll be elsewhere when she comes to open our Senedd.
21 comments:
Couldn't agree more, Leanne. We had a debate on the monarchy at my Sixth Form last week, and I asked the representative from the International Monarchist League if he did not consider it paradoxical that Cameron, Clegg and Miliband - proponents of meritocracy - attended the royal wedding and celebrated the tradition of hereditary privilege.
I was disheartened, however, by the majority of my classmates that voted in favour of the monarchy. Great to hear about acts like yours though!
I don't think you'll be alone but I wonder how many of your Labour colleagues will join you?
Well done. I accept we republicans are in a minority but we are are a significant minority and in a democratic society we should be allowed to voice our views and not be forced to swear an oath of alliance to an institution that we oppose.
During the "Royal Wedding" Kate Middleton was said to be a commoner she was not nor is she now royal like you and I she's a citizen.
I can't believe that Plaid has not proposed to abolish the Oath of allegiance in the Assembly its time to end this undemocratic farce you can abstain from swearing to God but not the Queen of England.
What is more interesting, Plaid Gwersyllt, is whether other Plaid AMs will join Leanne!
I don't agree with your view, Leanne, but I do respect your courage in espousing an unpopular cause.
I hope you'll allow me to correct you on one point on which you and the admirable DJ are wrong. Queen Elizabeth II is queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Whether she should be is another matter. She is not the Queen of England.
I fully support your stance Leanne - and I am confident that though we are in a minority now, republicanism will become a major force under King Charles the Last.
The calls for the crown to skip a generation coming from many monarchists these days, plays into our hands, as it so obviously brings into question the hereditary principle. It can only be a matter of time, because like the cause of Welsh independence, republicanism has a logical, historical inevitability behind it.
wholeheartedly agree. viva!
We like to think we live in a meritocracy. We don't. If we did, all children would be able to aspire to be head of state.
I love that,going to have to quote you on it.
Mae'n dda gweld eich bod yn darllen gweithiau DJ Davies - mae ganddo syniadau diddorol am economi gydweithredol i Gymru ac hoffwn fel hen aelod o'r Blaid weld fwy o bwyslais o fewn y mudiad ar hybu mentrau cydweithredol yn hytrach na'r pwyslais yma ar y sector breifat.
Leanne Wood is a hero. I'm English and I want a republic, be it a British Republic or, if Wales and Scotland go their own way eventually, an English republic within a federation of British republics. The person in the Welsh Assembly that engineered Leanne's expulsion from the chamber for referring to the queen as Mrs Windsor (her name) is the epitome of what is wrong with our countries, drowning in a sea of sycophancy. Keep up the good fight Leanne.
Falch i weld fod aelod ifanc o'r Blaid yn darllen gwaith DJ Davies. Mae ganddo syniadau da am hybu yr economi gydweithredol ac hoffwn weld y Blaid yn trafod fwy am y sector gydweithredol yng nghymru yn hytrach na'r sector breifat fel hen aelod o'r Blaid!
I whole heartedly agree
How many of the so called republicants in the Bay will stand with you though. I am sure they would love o press the flesh
Time comes for more than words an dthat includes a lot of your party and of labour.
No Siônnyn, Elizabeth the Last. No more waiting.
What makes you think we live in a meritocracy? As far as I know, Plaid Cymru is the only party where members elect their leader/representative. All the others just arbitrarily stick someone from a small clique into that position, hence Joe Public never gets to be Prime Minster, or any minister for that matter. Meritocracy indeed.
Complete and absolute nonsense. As a Monarchist whose father's family are from Wales, I can safely say that you are speaking nonsense. HM, as has been stated in a previous comment, is Queen of the Unite kingdom of Great Britian and Northern Ireland not just England. No obligation to be audited by the National Audit Office? You are mistaken as Royal Finances are to be audited by the NAO from 2012. Exempt from FOI? So are those things governed by National Security.
Deference and Sycophancy? You could not be further from the truth. You can choose not to bow, you call her "Your Majesty" once and "Ma'am" for the rest of the day. This is normal politeness towards a Head of State (you call a President "Your Excellency", etc).
As for meritocracy, let me serve to remind you that it is a governments job to govern, legislate and enforce the law not provide people with the chance to be Head of State. Add to this the fact that seven out of the top ten most developed and advanced countries in the world are Constitutional Monarchies (UN Human Development Index) and you republicans are on a loser there.
As for subjects, you at your passport and you will see that you are a citizen. Hereditary class system? Look at the USA and Russia (both Republics) and you will see that wealth & privelige are for more concentrated in the hands of a few and that poverty is far worse in these countries than here in the UK. Land assests pillaged? Republics are as guilty of that as Monarchies are.
The honours sytem is decided largely by the PM and would you consider getting rid of the VC and GC? I think not.Unaccountable and privileged elite? There are far worse. Did you not know that the US President is not elected by the people of the USA but by the electoral college or that the present line of succession was assented to by parliament by way of the 1701 Act of Succession? Shame on you if you did not. No system of government is perfect, however, do not forget that more dictatorships have come out of republics than out of monarchies.
http://www.c2cjournal.ca/blog-articles/view/is-it-time-to-cut-canadas-ties-to-the-house-of-windsor
Where is the Republican do tomorrow?
I heard it had changed venues.
Your argument, Leanne is weak and selfish for you might have considered the disrespect you are showing to your constituents who are pleased the Queen attended (even if they are not ardent monarchists). But then PC has often been represented by small-minded individuals who devalue the causes supported by PC.
"a flaw in nature"
words from the Zeitgeist movement I could not have put it better.
They have brought "recognition of the social problems that plague the human species"
everything I have watched or read makes sense to me, even the conspiracies.
They say it how it is, interpret, so everyone can understand it, if they listen to it.
I trust their way of thinking, how they have thought of and connected everything.
have been working on the cure that could be correcting and improving..
I'll continue to cut and paste bits of info,
as I'm reading and updating, time saving, for those who want to know.
.In business and Politics money does mean more than human needs,
so peoples emotions are battered constantly,
living in a world of fear and scarcity trying to get money.
When they say that technology, can set it up so everybody can access everything easily.
Working together, learning together, we could live our lives truly free,
who is or is not thinking properly.??
Who would not want this, ? only those who feel power through Politics and the rich.
Because they would then be the same as everybody,
It would be the end of servancy.
Do they really feel they need to have one over in order to be happy,?
when their Politics and selfishness is making life miserable for the Majority.
And we are allowing it cowardly and stupidly,
using up our life time fighting over money.
I truly believe Funky Earth Mothers can start it,
bring some serious awareness to the Venus project..
So the next generation don’t know about violence,
It, greed & selfness, will not be inside of them,
life will not be disturbing them.
For the whole of civilization, it will not be an option,
behavioural problem, feeling or alternative.
It won't be a reaction, there will not be frustration,
It will not be a habit or developed in our genetics.
Correcting this generation, to improve civilization,
so it's not taught to their kids,
so they appreciate & respect, don’t waste & neglect,
& continue raping our planet.
We could progress without getting in a mess,
things could get there utilising technology consideration & kindness.
We have to get the government & Royal family to see this,
forget about money war & politics.
We don’t need any of this,
we should not need to teach this to our kids.
A resource based economy,
putting money where it needs to be in History.
Accept all the knowledge & awareness,
acknowledge the fact that as it is we are a mess.
Forget all the shit, lets just move on from it.
Listen to the scientists & specialists, info collected & tested by Jacque Fresco & Peter Joseph,
bring back love & laughter, happily ever after, and community spirit.
working together contributing a little something, developing our free living, and maintaining.
Plaid Cymru have never been clear on where they stand on independence, unlike the SNP. Leanne take some advice hun, dump gutless Plaid Cymru & form a party more of our thinking, I'm sure you would have many followers.
I am proud to read that finally certain members of Plaid are prepared to challenge the idea of English monarchy.
It really is time for the Party of Wales to move to a more Republican cause after the disaster of the 2011 elections.
How dare Mrs Windsor lecture an elected Welsh body on accountibility. Then 'Captain Harry Wales' goes off to Afghanistan to shoot Muslims as part of the imaginary War On Terror. I can't recall the people of Wales electing Harry to that title, nor the people of Wales starting any war against other minorities.
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